Members of the Houston Texans spoke to the media following Friday's practice.
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
NT Shaun Cody
DE Antonio Smith
Head Coach Gary Kubiak
(on the team's injuries) "(OLB Bryan) Braman was out today. He will be a game-time decision. I wouldn't say he took a step back yesterday, but he was on his way toward Sunday and got a little sore again with his hamstring, so we stopped him and proceeded forward with (OLB) Jesse (Nading) today. But we'll work him out Sunday morning and see if he's ready to go."
(on DE Antonio Smith) "(DE) Antonio (Smith) is fine. Antonio practiced today and took his work. He's ready to go."
(on how he gets players in the secondary to pay attention to what Jacksonville QB Blaine Gabbert has done this year as opposed to his rookie season of 2011) "Well, the good news is you just watch this year's film. I mean, you watch these guys through the preseason. As a football team, they played well. He's obviously playing with a lot of confidence. The job that (Jacksonville Head Coach) Mike (Mularkey) does with the quarterback, I think everybody understands that. There's no problem getting ready for him right now because you see what's going on and you know what it's going to take to go in there and on top of that, we always have big, physical games with them and we expect another one."
(on the improvement Jacksonville QB Blaine Gabbert has made from year one to year two) "Well you can't make that leap unless you play, that's the key. He played all last year, that's difficult on a young quarterback. I was talking to (Miami Dolphins Offensive Coordinator Mike Sherman) Sherm the other day with (Ryan) Tannehill and him playing this year. I mean, you have to get those reps in this league to become a real good quarterback. So as hard as it sometimes is on those young guys their first year, it's so invaluable when they go to year two and you can see it with Blaine (Gabbert) right now. But I think (Jacksonville Head Coach) Mike (Mularkey) has a lot to do with that because Mike instills great confidence in his quarterback, whoever it is."
(on the team playing its first road game of the season) "Last night (Chicago playing at Green Bay) is a good example, so I hope guys went home and watched. If you go on the road and turn the ball over and get sacked and do things like that or give up a big play in the special teams, you're not going to win in this league, I don't care what type of team you are. Our conversation after practice today was about playing good football, playing our type of football, playing solid and that'll give us our best chance to win. Played much better on the road last year than we have in the past and we'll need to do that again. Plus, it's a division game."
(on the relief that DE Antonio Smith will be ready to play on Sunday) "Well, I expected it, really. I told you guys yesterday, I think he would have practiced yesterday, had we asked him to. (DE) Antonio (Smith) always answers the bell and when he tells you something, you can count on it. And he had told us, 'Yeah, I'll be fine,' yesterday. He took his load. He's ready to go."
(on how important DE Antonio Smith is to the team) "Well, he's a captain, so that tells you how important he is. He's a tremendous effort player and that's what we're built around as a football team. It takes (DE Antonio Smith) he and (DE) J.J. (Watt) and (DE Tim Jamison) Timmy and (NT) Shaun (Cody) and they're working together for us to be successful. When guys name you captain, I think that says enough."
(on the progress of the team from last week) "We have practiced better. We practiced pretty good last week. We didn't play very good but I think what has to happen is the (ILB Tim) Dobbins, the (ILB) Mister Alexanders, the (OLB) Whitneys (Mercilus), they have to play huge. They can't be average for our team to be good on special teams. If (WR) Trindon's (Holliday) going to get to touch it two, three times, we've got to make it count. We didn't do that last week and I expect us to bounce back. This group's special teams is always very good so it's always a good challenge for us."
NT Shaun Cody
(on why this team able to be successful in Defensive Coordinator Wade Phillips' defense) "It has a lot to do with the techniques we use, I think. (Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach) Bill (Kollar) does a great job teaching techniques to us and how to play more stout. Obviously I'm a run-game guy so I'm in there first and second down and that's what I'm predominantly in there to do, so Bill definitely helps me out a lot with techniques."
(on hosting the "On The Nose Show" on houstontexans.com) "Yeah, I think we're off to a great start so we'll try to see if we can keep it going. (Nick) Scurfield and Drew Dougherty do a great job of really putting that thing together. I just act a fool on camera and they put it all together so it's' really easy."
DE Antonio Smith
(on his thoughts about Jaguars' RB Maurice Jones-Drew today) "Same as they were yesterday. Like I said, he's a great back and I think he's going to be one of the main keys who we got to stop. If we stop the run, I think this defense is just phenomenal at rushing the passer, so if we can get the run stopped, we can do what we like to do."
(on getting back to practice today) "It felt alright. It felt a lot better than I thought it would. Sometimes you over exaggerate things, but I got out there on it and once you get over the mindset thing of putting weight on it, it was good."
(on letting the "Ninja" come out a bit on Sunday) "Yes, it took a couple more days than usual on my ninja healing qualities but they came in due to the training staff, right on time."
(on if he's been fined) "I just want them to take a good look at it because you know if you going strictly by the rule book, me kicking him was breaking the rules, but I want them to look at the reason why I was kicking him, trying to get him off my ankle. You see on the film, the moment my ankle came free, I stopped. I was just trying to get my ankle free from him mauling it."
(on how disappointed he is to get fined) "It's very disappointing whenever you lose money. Nobody wants to lose no money especially $21,000. That could be going in my daughter or my son's trust funds or something. That's a pretty penny, nobody would like to get that kind of money especially when I feel like I was defending myself."
